The Academy serves as the country's premier drama school, providing education for all types of professions related to theatre, television and film production, including actors, directors, cinematographers, playwrights, screenwriters, dramaturgs and editors.

[1] However, the modern-day academy traces its roots to the Croatian Drama School (Hrvatska dramatska škola) which was established by Stjepan Miletić in 1896, more than 30 years after the 1861 law.

The school was housed in a building at Republic of Croatia Square, which it occupies today.

In November 1950, the school was legally recognized as a higher education institution, mainly through the efforts of Branko Gavella, Drago Ivanišević and Ranko Marinković, prompting a rename to "academy".

In 1979 it became part of the University of Zagreb and since then its head holds the title of "Dean" (Dekan).